10 Essential Rock Albums Of The 2010s

Algiers do not play instruments. Algiers use instruments, and that's a very important distinction to make when discussing The Underside of Power. On this album they utilise an exhausting number of instruments that, if we were to list them, would probably fill out the word count for this entry. They tear these instruments apart, reassemble them, meld extra parts to them, and as a result the sound - or noise more accurately - is mind-blowing.

Noise was of course the only direction Algiers could have possibly went with The Underside of Power, because the sound reflects the anger and ferocity present in every single lyric belted out by lead vocalist Franklin James Fisher.

Make no mistake, this is by no means a happy album. In his lyrics, Fisher explores racism and racial tensions in America - much of it drawn from personal experience - as well as the relationship between sex and power - and the destructive force when power is abused to attain the other. The subject matter extends all the way to the possibility of the apocalypse, which Fisher seems to think is right around the corner.

However, despite thinking the world could end in the time it takes for you to listen to this album, Algiers also seem oddly hopeful for what will be left of us afterwards.